Humorists Baffled: All Attempts at Post-election Levity Generating no Laughs

CHICAGO – Funny folks ranging from comedy writers to cartoonists to standup comedians are facing a serious problem: their humor is falling flat. Ever since Donald Trump won the election, frowns are all around.

“I used to have a proven routine,” said comedian Makim Guffaw. “Now it’s like the entire country has turned into my first gig where I bombed in Albany. Man, that was a lousy crowd.”

Second City instructor Kali Chortal said she has started to improvise her own improv class. “I used to teach with a written class outline,” she said, “but that didn’t seem to go well for my latest class of students, judging by their poor reception at amateur night. So now I just walk into the classroom, and I make everything up on the spot, the moment I’m teaching it.”

Leading up to the election humorists were reveling in the rise of Donald Trump. “We used to love waiting for him to say the next ridiculous thing,” said freelance comedy writer, Glenn Toby. “Not only did Trump give us plenty of material, he basically acted it out in a one-man performance. It was great, but now we just cringe, like this reality show has gotten too real.”

Humorists are hoping this is just a dry spell, but the Trump presidency seems to be more of a dark, twisted drama. “I don’t know,” said comedy club owner Hella Vakroud. “I might just turn my place into a humorist support group center.”